Tai Chi Connections DVD Reviews
From a Teacher…
Sifu Loupos
As a teacher and a lifetime student, I found your Tai Chi Connections DVD/book to possibly be the most detailed and easily understood presentation of the Yang form. Do you have plans for a Tai Chi Connecitons II/III where you give the same thorough instruction on the remainder of the long form?
Very respectfully
Russ McWhorter
(May 2010)
5.0 out of 5 stars:
“The Best Tai Chi DVD That I Have Seen”
By Dr. Richard G. Petty
October 8, 2009
There is now a wealth of scientific data to show that the practice of tai chi – or, more correctly, T’ai chi ch’uan – can produce impressive improvements in both physical and psychological health and most regular practitioners will attest to its impact on their sense of peace and vitality. Naturally enough, the key to obtaining the benefits is practicing correctly.
I have had the privilege of working with a number of tai chi teachers around the world, seven of whom have really had a major impact on me. One of them is John Loupos, who has written and produced this extremely fine DVD. It is more than ten years ago that I was able to do a one-week intensive with John, but the clarity and simplicity of his approach is still fresh in my mind.
This DVD captures the best of John’s teachings. He particularly emphasizes the importance correct posture, rooting, breathing and flow. These are principles that can be applied whatever form of tai chi you practice. There is a full demonstration of the yang style tai chi form as well as over fifty scene selections. The whole DVD runs for over two and a half hours, and is excellent value for money. And for people for whom English is not a first language, there are also Spanish and German subtitles.
There is always going to be a limit to how much you can learn without the individual guidance of an experienced teacher, but for people who do not have ready access to a teacher this is quite simply the best DVD on tai chi that I know of. And if you are already working with a teacher, John gives a great many pointers that can really help to move you to the next level.
Very highly recommended.
Richard G. Petty, MD,
author of Healing, Meaning and Purpose: The Magical Power of the Emerging Laws of Life
From a German Tai Chi magazine (see translation below)
Taijiquan grundsatlich
(English Translation) TaiJiQuan in principle
John Loupos, Yang-stylist for 30 years with holistic health background, has produced a DVD which is not form-oriented, but rather has basic principles as its subject. It requires some knowledge of TaiJiQuan and its terminology, and is therefore only suitable for already practicing students. With this DVD, John Loupos addresses all TaiJi practitioners, regardless of style and form.
After a brief general introduction in which he introduces himself, he explains four subjects: “Mobility”, “Inner Structure”, Qi”, and “Being in the Moment”. Three warming-up exercises follow, which are designed to bring [the practitioner] down from the daily speed. He emphasizes the importance of doing the exercises shown in [the practitioner’s] own speed, and to respect one’s own limits. Already in this chapter he refers to the connection to the earth (rootedness).
Then follows the first part of the Yang long form, first only demonstrated, then with instructions. In this, John Loupos refers less to the external sequence of movements but rather more to the movements of the hips, the sinking, and the structure of the body (spinal column, feet and knees, shoulders and elbows). Subsequently, he demonstrates common mistakes. In this as well he emphasizes correct body structure in the respective positions. A whole chapter is dedicated to the mistake of bobbing up and down when shifting one’s weight (the “bouncing”), which can be countered, amongst other things, by imaginary rubber bands (the actual term is ‘guy wires’).
Following next is a chapter on momentum, the impetus that makes the movements homogenous, or is supposed to do so. Then he introduces, in a refreshingly unconventional way, the “shaking”, an exercise used by him in his lessons, in which the body is shaken during the form. In conclusion, the first part of the Yang form is shown from a different camera perspective, from an angle diagonally to the rear.
All in all an interesting DVD, which will explain to practitioners essential principles of TaiJiQuan. The language is English, subtitle options are Spanish or German.
(Helmut Oberlack)
(Original German Text)
John Loupos, Yang-Stilist seit 30 Jahen mit naturheilkulichem Hintergrund, hat eine DVD produziert, die nicht formorientiert ist, sondern Grundsatzliches zum Thema hat. Sie setzt schon Kenntnisse in Taijiquan und seiner Terminologie voraus, ist also nur fur Ubende geeignet. John Loupos wendit sich mit dieser DVD an alle Taiji-Ubenden, unabhangig von Stil und Form.
Nach einer kurzen allgemeinen Einfuhrung inder er sich vorstellt, erlautert er vier Punkte: >>Beweglichkeit<<, >>Innere Struktur<<, >>Qi<< und >>Im Moment sein<<. Es folgen drei Aufwarmubungen, die einen von der aaltaglichen Geschwindkeit runterbringen sollen. Er betont die Wichtigkeit, die gezeigten Ubengen in der eigenen Geshwindigkeit auszuffuhren, und dass die eigenen Grenzen zu respektieren seien. Bereits in diesum Kapital geht er auf die Verbindung zur Erde ein.
Dann fogt dererste Teil der lamgen Yang-Form, zuerst nur gezeigt, dann mit Anleitung. Dabei geht John Loupos weniger auf den auBeren Ablauf der Bewegung ein, sondern mehr auf die Bewegungen der Hufte, das Sinken und die Struktur des Korpers (Wirbelsaule, FuBe und Knie, Schultern und Ellenbogen). AnschlieBend zeigt er haufige Fehler. Auch dabei legt er Wert auf die richtige Struktur des Korpers in der jeweiligen Position. Ein eigenes Kapitel widmet er dem Fehler des Hoch- und Runterhehens bei Gewichtsverlagerungen (dem >>Hupfen<<), dem man unter anderem mit imaginaren Halteseilen aus Gummi begegnen kann.
Es folgt ein Kapitel zum Momentum, dem Schwung, der die Bewegungen gleichmaBig macht beziehungsweise machen soll. AnschlieBend stellt er, erfrischend unkonventionell, noch das >>Schutteln<< vor, eine von ihm im Unterricht verwendete Ubung, bei der man wahrend der Form den Korper schuttelt. AbschlieBend wird der erste Teil der Yang-Form aue einer anderen Kameraperspektive, von schrag hinten, gezeigt.
Alles in allem eine interessante DVD, die Ubenden wesentliche Prinzipien des Taiji-quan naher bringt. Die Sprache ist Englisch, es gibt, wahlweise Unteritel in Spanisch und Deutch.
(Helmut Oberlack)
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